"Keep this in mind
the murder of a child
the death of a woman
the bullet-riddled body
of a man
is the decay not only of a regime
but of the whole nation"
This is a very sad poem for me and I hope same was true in case of Sarveshwar.
The death of a seven year old boy while running away from Israeli forces who were brave enough to chase a seven year old way and kind enough to kill him after he falls is a matter of immense shock, heart wrenching pain and a perfect sad metaphor for description of how nationalism and religious identity is leading and making Israel and it's reaction to Palestine situation.
The oppressed of past are oppressors of today is the dictum which could be subscribed to describe Israel and it's politics.
An important question that needs to be answered is, Is this the Israel of Amos Oz ,the sun warming ,gentle man who wrote "The tale of love and darkness" or that land has been lost?
Oz wrote in his above mentioned book -
"Books filled our home. My father could read sixteen or seventeen languages and could speak eleven (all with a Russian accent). My mother spoke four or five languages and read seven or eight. They conversed in Russian or Polish when they did not want me to understand. (Which was most of the time. When my mother referred to a stallion in Hebrew in my hearing, my father rebuked her furiously in Russian: Shto s toboi?! Vidish malchik ryadom s nami!—What’s the matter with you? You can see the boy’s right here!) Out of cultural considerations they mostly read books in German or English, and presumably they dreamed in Yiddish. But the only language they taught me was Hebrew. Maybe they feared that a knowledge of languages would expose me too to the blandishments of Europe, that wonderful, murderous continent."
Is it that the fear of Amos Oz has turned true and Israel has learnt another language than Hebrew, if so, what is the new language Israel has learnt? Isn't it the language of hate, the language of barbarity and destruction.
I fear that the fear of Amos Oz have turned true and perhaps Oz wasn't able to see Israeli forces learning new languages of hate, destruction and barbarity. Or perhaps the brave, kind, loving, living, caring, parenting army of Israel wasn't aware of Oz's fear or they might have devil's charm while turning Oz's fear into strange yet seemingly normal situation of our times which could have been anything but certainly not normal.
In same book Oz writes "As the years passed I became aware that Jerusalem, under British rule in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, must be a fascinatingly cultured city" and I naively wonder is it the same cultural city in which bloodlust have been forced on masses?
Perhaps it appears to be the same.
We lost Oz to death, we lost that seven year old to death. Perhaps both are united in death and now Oz might be reading parts of his book "How to cure a fanatic". The boy might be asking Oz to say louder and the old Oz in his shrill voice, tearful eyes and kindness utters -
"The Palestinians are in Palestine because Palestine is the homeland and the only homeland of the Palestinian people" as he wrote in his book.
The boy might be asking questions and Oz might be answering questions rather than firing bullets as brave kind loving cheerful army of Israel does.
But wouldn't it have been nicer had Oz work been received by Israel and it's army rather than that boy.
Footnotes -
1. Translation of Saxena's poem as it appeared in The Wire.
2. Oz quotations from his own work.
---@abhishekwhytripathi
(Abhishek Tripathi)
01.10.2022
Comments
Post a Comment